The Anomaly
by PHD in oof
Summary: Gordon was never meant to be more than just a regular man. Yes, he was well on his way to earning a Nobel prize, but nothing truly special. Nothing like the rage monsters and billionaires flying around in armor he'd been hearing about. That all changed with The Incident. Where a man destined to be mundane became more important than anyone ever expected. OC.
1. Chapter 1

**AN:So this is a new story I'm starting. Idk if It'll ever become more than a one-shot, but I just wanted to get it out of my head and onto 'paper'. As always, reviewing and showing interest in the story is what motivates me to continue/get updates out faster. If you're gonna be critical, try to at least keep it constructive, I'm mainly doing this to get better at writing.**

* * *

One would think that living in a world with mutants, demigods, and a giant green rage monster would be a roller-coaster of excitement. But that would be a lie. Because unless you're one of those few special people, chances are you'll live a regular, boring life, where the only excitement comes from the brief few times you're held hostage by a villain.

Occasionally, however, an anomaly appears. Someone who was destined for a life of mediocrity suddenly becomes much more important than anyone ever expected. And at this moment, that person is about to begin the journey of a lifetime…

* * *

BEEP...BEEP...BE-...

A hand slams down on the alarm clock, and a groan can be heard coming from under a blanket.

'Why the hell did I ever agree to work this early?'

The blanket gets thrown off, revealing a man. He has light, blonde hair, brown eyes, and wants nothing more than to just be able to stay in bed for a few more hours.

"That's the last time I stay awake until three in the morning… oh who am I kidding." He murmurs to himself as he gets out of his bed in one, fluid movement.

He goes through his regular morning routine, but he can't get rid of this nagging feeling that he's forgetting something.

After he's done showering, he walks over to what kept him up last night. It's a small, tin can-shaped device that fits in the palm of his hand, and it's the culmination of all his life's work so far. Being that he's only 29, that's not saying much, but it's still the greatest undertaking he has ever dreamt up and finished.

He laughs, "Damn! 4 whole years of work… I can't wait to see Dr. Kis' face when I show him I'm finally done!"

He first met Dr. Kis while working on his doctorates in mechanical engineering, quantum physics, and multiverse theory. When those were finally complete, he was immediately invited to work with Kis on a special project he was told was going to be 'revolutionary'. They'd been working together for the past 5 years.

He stops reminiscing and looks at his clock.

'6:25, still got a few minutes before I gotta leave…'

He casually walks over to his dresser to put on his lab coat, when suddenly his cell phone goes off.

"Hello?"

"Gordon! Where the hell are you? Your shift started 15 minutes ago!"

Gordon freezes, 'So that's what I forgot!'

"Shit! I forgot about daylight savings! Be right there!"

He hangs up and hurriedly puts on his coat and a pair of pants, he rushes out the door...only to run back in to grab his device before leaving again.

'Can't forget this…'

He runs down the streets of New York City, barreling straight into some kid who was waiting for his school bus.

"Shit! Sorry about that…" He shouts without looking back.

The kid fixes his glasses and rubs his bruised shoulder as he gets up, 'There's that Parker luck,' he looks at Gordon's retreating form, 'Jeez, what a jerk.'

By the time Gordon gets to the big glass building that houses the lab he's been working in for the past few years, he's incredibly out of breath. He's already almost an hour late though, so he ignores his exhaustion and heads inside.

He almost trips on his way down into the buildings basement in his rush.

He brings his key card up to the locking mechanism and watches as the doors slide open with a hiss.

"Sir! I'm so sorry for being late! I forgot…"

A tall, deeply tanned man looking to be in his late 50's interrupts him. He's wearing a lab coat just like Gordon's.

"Never mind that, you're here now. Come on, we're just about ready to start the next test. I really think this might be it!"

"Of course, doctor."

'Not that you don't say that before every test.' Gordon thinks to himself.

He walks with the doctor for a few seconds before remembering the device still nestled in his palms.

"Oh! Dr. Kis, I finally finished the trans-dimensional matter converter, just last night in fact!"

Kis looks at Gordon with squinted eyes, trying to remember what the hell he's talking about. It doesn't take too long before his eyes light up.

"You were still working on that? I thought you gave up on that ages ago. Ah, but this is good! Let's go hook it up, you can help me with the code to integrate it into the machine."

And so began the somewhat long, tedious process of integrating Gordon's converter to the machine.

Three hours later, Gordon finally leans back in his chair and rubs his eyes. Coding wasn't either of their specialties, but Gordon knew enough to get by.

"Are you done with the code?" Kis shouts up from where he was fiddling with some electronic components.

"Yeah, just finished. You?"

"I finished my work an hour ago, I was waiting for you."

"Alright, so we're ready to go?"

Kis gets up from his crouching position and grins up at Gordon, "I've been ready my entire life."

Gordon rolls his eyes, "Yeah, yeah, I know. Should I call Julie and let her know we're about to run the machine? You know how she was the last time all the power in the building went out without warning…"

Kis waves him off, "She'll be fine. She can survive a few minutes without power."

"I don't think that's why-"

"Are we starting this or not?"

"Er, yeah. Of course. Would you like to do the honors?"

"Would I? Hmm, no, I think you should do it. I'll stay down here and keep an eye on all the electrical components."

Gordon shrugs, "If you say so."

He flips a few switches on the console and watches the giant contraption power up. It somewhat resembles a star gate, though much less sleek. There are cables all over the floor around it, and it has barely anything covering the electrical components. Only the components that absolutely require insulation or protection are covered. This was done mostly for convenience's sake.

There are eight pillars arranged in a circle, all facing inwards, pointing towards where the gate would (hopefully) form.

Gordon lowers his goggles down over his eyes and puts on ear muffs. There was a large chance this would fail and result in a massive explosion, and explosions are loud as hell.

"Alright, turning on the dimensional gate in three...two...one…" He presses a key on the computer and watches as the machine begins to light up. Gordon can hear the machine humming with power, and has no doubt that the building above is experiencing some technical difficulties.

They watch as the tips of the pillars begin to spark. The sparks gradually begin to increase in frequency until a veritable shower of electricity is coming off them.

Gordon and Dr. Kis both watch what appears to be another failure with a frown.

Suddenly, the sparks begin to move in a pattern, defying the laws of physics to do so. They're circling around the center of the machine at a continuously quicker pace. Before long, there is a bright, circular portal in the center of the machine. It slowly clears to reveal a sight that Kis and Gordon have been waiting and hoping for for years.

On the other side of the portal is what appears to be some sort of green, rocky plain, with a distinctly orange mountain in the background. More important are the two suns that can be seen in the distance.

'That...is definitely no place on Earth, at least not one I've ever heard of,' Gordon thinks.

Kis is just standing there gaping at their achievement, so Gordon takes it upon himself to check the readings. Everything checks out.

They've done it, they built a portal to some never before seen place, and it worked!

Gordon checks the computer one last time before deciding to join the doctor down by the base of the machine.

"All the readings look good sir. The power consumption is still immense, but that's what we predicted. There appears to be some sort of radiation coming through from the other side, but it's harmless enough that we don't have to worry about it for the time being. Doctor, we did it."

Kis is still speechless, staring wide-eyed at the foreign world on the other end of the portal. He nods his head at what Gordon said, not really paying attention.

He eventually snaps out of his reverie and looks to Gordon with a grin. Possibly the happiest he's been in his entire life.

"Damn right we did it! Come on, let's run some tests! Don't know how long this thing's gonna stay up," Kis declares jovially as he runs up to the main computer.

Gordon and Kis start running some tests. Just minor things like the foreign world's atmosphere. They're nowhere near ready enough to send anything living through without risking obliterating it, much less a human.

Meanwhile, they are both completely unaware of a small rat crawling around through the mess of wires behind the gate. It begins to gnaw on one of the wires.

Several minutes later, the two scientists are standing next to the gate again. Taking a moment to bask in their achievement.

Gordon gives a tired but elated sigh, "Well, we should probably shut this thing down now. Don't wanna risk Julie's rage anymore than we already have. We got some good data."

Kis frowns, "Yes, I suppose we should, but first," he smiles at Gordon, holding up his phone, "let's take a photo to immortalize this moment. The day two men, with only their wits and perseverance…"

"And a lot of loans"

"...and way too many loans, did the impossible and opened a portal to another realm!"

Gordon snickers, "And you always say I'm over dramatic. Alright, let's take this picture and shut this thing down. I'm starving.

Kis set his phone camera on a timer and propped it up on some books. He ran over to where Gordon was standing impatiently.

"Alright, say cheese!"

Kis grins widely, teeth shining white, while Gordon wears a little close-mouthed smile.

It is at this moment that the rat finally finishes chewing through the cord. The flash on the camera goes off, and everything goes to hell.

All at once, each of the pillars from which the portal originated started sparking wildly. The world that used to be visible through the portal was no more, replaced by a blur of color and motion as the gate started cycling through various points in space-time at complete random.

More often than not, the world being accessed had a much stronger gravitational pull than Earth, something Gordon was positive they had paid special attention to. Something must have disrupted the link between the computer and the gate.

The second the machine started malfunctioning, both Kis and Gordon madly rushed to the emergency power shut-off, but they didn't get far before they had to hold onto something, lest they get sucked into the portal.

"We have to shut it off! Can you get to the power switch?" Kis shouted over the malfunctioning machine, as well as the winds from air being sucked into the portal at violent speeds.

Gordon takes a second to readjust his footing before shouting back, "Maybe, but why can't you do it? You're closer than I am!"

Kis looks exasperated, "I'm barely holding on as is. You're younger and stronger than I am, you have a much larger chance of getting over there than I."

Gordon looks unsure, but nods, "Alright."

He slowly but surely starts to make his way over to the switch, keeping a tight grip on the surrounding terminals and desks.

'Of all the parts to malfunction, it just had to be the one that controlled the automatic kill switch,' Gordon thinks to himself, annoyed.

All this time, the gravitational pull is getting stronger the longer the portal stays open.

Gordon is about seven feet from the switch when he hears a loud thud coming from somewhere behind him. Sparing a glance, his eyes widen as he sees a desk has been completely lifted off the ground and is in a prime position to hit Dr. Kis, who's facing the opposite direction. The only thing preventing such an event is a thin power cord attached to a wall.

"Dr. Kis! Watch out!"

Kis is struggling to hold on, and barely registers that someone was speaking to him.

"What?" he shouts back.

Gordon doesn't have a chance to respond when the cord finally unplugs from the wall and the desk flies towards Kis, who still has yet to notice anything, and probably never will.

"No! Move!"

Adrenaline pumps through Gordon's body as he starts running as fast as he can towards Kis. Granted, it's still agonizingly slow, but he's able to push himself to go faster than he expected.

Gordon finally reaches Kis and manages to push him to the ground. He doesn't have long to celebrate as the desk slams into him full force. He's sent careening over the console he was holding onto, dazed and terrified.

Kis manages to get up just in time to see Gordon disappear into the portal.

"Gordon! Oh god!"

He tries to make it to the power switch himself, but the pulling force strengthens once again, and he's lifted off his feet, barely hanging onto a rail with both hands.

'Oh god, I'm slipping!' he thinks, panicked.

All of a sudden, the machine shuts off, and Kis is dumped unceremoniously onto the floor.

"What...How..." He's at a loss for words.

He lays there in total shock for a few moments before the reality of the situation hits him and he breaks down.

"What have I done! Gordon!" he cries into his hands, angry at himself for allowing this to happen.

He stays that way for a while, mourning the loss of his friend, and someone who he had started to see as a son. He eventually manages to get himself up onto his feet, wiping his face with his sleeve.

"I swear, Gordon, if it's the last thing I do. I'll get you out of this mess," he vows to himself. Not wanting to waste a minute, he starts to clean up the office, ready to get to work.

'But who turned off the machine?' he thinks, before shrugging, 'One of the cables supplying power to the gate was probably destroyed. And thank God it was.'

* * *

The second Gordon passed through the gate, he was overcome by one of the most painful sensations he had ever felt in his entire life. It was like he was being ripped apart molecule by molecule!

He didn't know how long he'd been there, feeling the worst pain he'd ever had in his life, but as time passed so too did the sensation. Oh, it was still there, but one can only do something for so long before they get used to it and it stops having the same effect.

After an indeterminate amount of time, Gordon finally opens his eyes, revealing an enchanting sight. He's flying through some sort of vortex, made up of an interesting blend of colors. Curiously, the closer he tries to look at just what colors make up the vortex, he gets a splitting headache and has to look away.

'What the hell happened?' Gordon searches his memory trying to remember how he got in this predicament. But, for the life of him, he just can't remember.

He looks at his lab coat, was he a scientist? Why couldn't he remember?!

* * *

**3 days later…**

A grin spreads across Gordon's face. He'd been thinking about it nonstop, and had finally broken through his pain-induced amnesia. Partially, at least.

"I WAS a scientist! There was a gate, and...and...I had a partner? Or was I alone? Dammit!"

* * *

**5 months later…**

Gordon had a blank look on his face. No matter how much he tried to remember, he couldn't get more than the bare bones explanation of how this had happened.

He tried looking at his wrist watch, but only ended up scowling. It was entirely unreliable. It could be working fine one second, then it would start wildly spinning backwards the next. Wherever he was, time had no meaning here.

'It makes sense. I've been here, um, a few weeks at least. And I don't feel anymore hungry now than before.'

He stayed silent for a little while, bored out of his mind. There was nothing to do but watch the colors, and that got dull quickly.

'Maybe I should count? I've never actually seen how high I could get.'

"Alright, well… one, two, three, four…"

* * *

**~60 years later…**

"...980,478,394...980,478,395...980,478,396…" Gordon has a dead look in his eyes as he says the numbers in a dull monotone. He'd long lost any motivation to continue counting, but what else was there to do?

* * *

**100 years later…**

Gordon is hunched over, hugging his knees and giggling wildly.

"And, heh, and then he said, get this… that's not me, that's my twin! And then he shot himself! Hahahahaha" Gordon breaks into a fit of laughter. Eventually he wipes a tear from his eye.

"Oh Reginald, you so get me. Not like those losers at the popular kids table…" He throws a disgusted look over his shoulder.

Suddenly, he gets a gleam in his eye and grins, "Hey, have I told you the one about the fisherman and the bear? Oh, you'll love this…"

* * *

**500 years later…**

Gordon stares blankly ahead. Looking back, his centuries-long bout of insanity was a bit childish. He frowns, if only this magical vortex of magic wasn't so goddamn boring!

He looks once again, for perhaps the billionth time, at the amalgam of colors that make up the prison he's been trapped it for God knows how long, only to once again look away as his eyes burn and brain aches.

With an annoyed look, he vows to once and for all finally figure out just why he couldn't look through the vortex. That should keep him busy for a while.

* * *

**15,000 years later…**

He...he did it. He cracked the code! And it only took so, so many years of splitting headaches. But he did it! He finally understood!

Gordon stares, entranced, at the vision beyond the vortex. It was beyond description. Even after studying it for so long, he could barely comprehend it. Numbers, names, dates, locations, they were all there. Everything that can, has, and will happen all present on a single tapestry.

'It's beautiful,' Gordon thinks to himself.

He saw so many things. Every person that has ever existed or could possibly exist has a story. Every decision made since the beginning, even those based on chance, created its own separate branch, and he could see them all.

Suddenly, Gordon's eyes widen, 'Is that me?'

It was. He could see himself at some sort of ceremony, a medal being put around his neck. But he could also see himself an old, decrepit alcoholic, someone who had lost everything. These and so many other possible futures. Ones where he was born a mutant, ones where the gate killed him, everything.

So, with nothing else to do, Gordon watched, and he learned.

* * *

**~50,000 years later…**

It started slowly. So slowly that Gordon didn't even realize at first, as transfixed as he was in what he assumed was the space-time continuum. As he absorbed more and more knowledge of the past, present, and future, a different kind of knowledge came to him.

He was re watching some of his favorite lifetimes (some people led fascinating lives, and he couldn't help but to watch some of them over and over like a favorite movie), as one does, when he noticed something he never had before.

There was a rip, some sort of tear in reality, that was leaking into and affecting the realities around it. He shifted his body so he would fall towards the rip, and as he got closer to it he could feel all the hair on his body stand on end.

Before long, he was right in front of it, wondering what the hell he was going to do. He'd never had to actually interact with space-time, he'd always been an observer. Despite this, he had a nagging feeling in the back of his head that he already had the knowledge, he just had to use it.

Almost on autopilot, he raises his hand and pressed it against the tear. His hand started to glow a dull blue and emit sparks as the energy from the tear flowed through his hand into his body. As he absorbed the energy, the tear got smaller and smaller, until it eventually disappeared.

When it was gone, Gordon slumped over in exhaustion, both physical and mental. It was like a brand new domain of knowledge was available to him now, that he'd been too blind to see before. No longer was he destined to forever be an observer.

Gordon grins, 'Maybe I can finally leave! Oh, but where would I go?'

He thinks about it for a bit, but gives up, 'No matter, I should see if I can even leave first.'

Gordon concentrates on his new knowledge and his hands light up the dull blue they were before. A very small portal, the size of a dime, forms between his outstretched hands, but it sputters out and dies. He tries again, but nothing happens.

"It looks like I need more power, I should find more rips in space-time and use them to fuel my escape."

* * *

**30,000 years later…**

It was a long, arduous process, but Gordon thinks he finally has enough energy to try to escape. This much energy wouldn't usually be needed to traverse between dimensions, but the vortex is particularly resistant to any changes in space-time, and therefore requires much more energy to penetrate.

He has not only been gathering power, but also learning how to use it. Manipulating space-time isn't something you can necessarily study. The only way to learn about it is through exposure. And fortunately, Gordon had all the exposure he needed and then some.

Just like all those years ago, Gordon brings his hands forward, about a foot apart, and begins to concentrate. He closes his eyes to better visualize the desired result, hundreds of calculations and equations flash through his thoughts as he seeks to make his desires reality.

A glowing disc slowly forms in between his hands. As he pours more of his gathered energy into the portal, it grows larger, and it isn't long before he has to switch to projecting it a few feet in front of him. As it grows in size and in power, he runs into a problem.

'Where should I go? Infinite possibilities, and I'm supposed to choose just one?' he ponders the situation for a few moments, before deciding to not overthink it.

'Let's just go back to the universe where this all began. Shit, which one was that? Universe 41576? Or was it 42594? Hmm, let's go with 41576, that sounds right.'

With a goal now in mind, he continues to pour energy into his portal. Eventually the glowing disc reaches his size and he finally opens his eyes. This next part was the simplest, yet also the most difficult. He has to exert his own force of will upon the space-time continuum and change something drastically.

He wasn't supposed to be able to get back to his world, he hadn't seen such a possibility in any of the billions of universes he had observed. His arrival would cause ripples, major changes. Changes that the universe didn't like, and would oppose with all the force it could muster.

With a deep breath, he started pushing the last of the energy needed into the portal. At first, it was easy going, but then he established the connection with his home universe, and something noticed.

He was met with resistance. Whereas before the energy flowed freely, it moved now like it was traversing through syrup. Regardless, he kept pushing, he refused to be stuck here for another ten thousand years struggling to find enough energy to try again.

He focused his energy, the resistance temporarily starting to win the struggle, before bringing everything he had into one final push. The resistance, um, resisted, but it was overcome with the sudden wave of force and a connection was established.

Gordon smirks, "Reginald," he lowers his goggles onto his face, "let's ditch this hellhole."

With that he flies through the portal, back home at last.

* * *

When Gordon got through to the other side, he fell down on his knees, out of breath and mentally exhausted. His skin was tingling, and he realized that it was the absence of immense pain. Huh, he'd forgotten that was even a thing.

After a quick rest he stood up. He looked around and noticed he was in an extremely familiar laboratory. A quick glance confirmed that this was the site of the incident.

Gordon frowns, 'But what date is it…?'

No sooner does he think that, when a rush of information hits his head all at once. He knows exactly what date it is. He knows how long ago the big bang of this universe was. He knows when his dimensional counterpart was born. He knows when everyone was born, and when they died, but also how they died, and how alternate versions of them died.

He knows all this all the way down to Planck time. No, even smaller than that. Humanity does not yet have a time measurement that small.

Gordon closes his eyes and tries to stop the flow of information. After so many years absorbing every bit of knowledge available to him and nothing else, he had forgotten how distracting it was when attempting to do something else.

Either way, he had his information. He was here a few hours early, it was 3:00 AM the day of the incident.

'I don't really feel like waiting, let's just skip to the interesting part.'

He brings his hand up, and curiously notes that it starts to glow a slight green, as opposed to the blue he's been used to for the past few millennia. He sighs, resolving to investigate that at a later time.

He twists his hand, manipulating energies that only he can see, as the world blurs around him. He observes as Dr. Kis enters the lab and begins preparing the experiment. Then watches as his past (present?) self arrives and helps with the setup.

Everything is moving in fast forward, and it isn't long before Gordon arrives at the moment of truth. He watches apathetically as his other self is sucked into the portal, wondering if there was now another version of himself that was stuck in time limbo forever.

He watches curiously as Kis tries to make it to the power switch, but starts getting sucked into the gate. Gordon stops time and makes his way over to the switch. He pulls it and allows time to continue. Kis flops down onto the ground and has his emotional moment.

'I think it's time to leave,' Gordon thinks to himself, touched at the pain that Kis felt at his apparent demise.

He walks out of the lab, and starts heading towards his apartment. The streets are busy, with everyone going out to lunch.

At the slow, leisurely pace he's walking at, it takes him another 30 minutes to get to his apartment. He freezes time, grunting a little bit in exertion, in an effort to avoid anyone who might recognize him.

Walking into his apartment for the first time in so long is quite nostalgic. It looks exactly how he expected it to, but being here in person is different than just observing it from outside space-time. It just feels more… real.

'But most importantly, I can finally change out of this damn lab coat,' Gordon thinks with glee.

He runs to his closet and picks out a shirt. Any shirt, it doesn't matter. He changes into it and allows himself a few moments to just appreciate the fact that he's not wearing the exact same outfit he's been wearing for millennia. That is until the shirt he picked out starts to warp and blur on his body, before decomposing into scraps of cloth and eventually soil that just falls to the ground.

Gordon stands there in silence, before slightly tearing up.

'After all these years, I'm still being forced to wear the same, damn clothes. This is bullshit,' his eyes widen and he rushes to his fridge.

'Come on, come on, please!' he picks up some sandwich meat, but it rots and disintegrates in his hands. Cheese becomes moldy and unpalatable. Same with the bread.

In desperation he reaches into one of his drawers and pulls out a bag of candy. The plastic seems to be fine. He tentatively pulls one a caramel-flavored hard candy, one of the few sweets he allows himself to eat. He breaths a heavy sigh of relief as it doesn't change and pops it into his mouth.

'Mmm.' He closes his eyes and just enjoys the moment.

"Well, looks like I have a new favorite food," he says with the candy still in his mouth. He puts the bag in his pocket and walks back to his shirt and lab coat.

When he lifts them up he crinkles his nose in disgust. The blanket they'd been resting on had completely decomposed into dirt.

'It seems that when separated from my person, anything that was with me in the vortex has a weird effect on the effect time has on things around it.'

He puts his shirt and coat back on and leaves his apartment.

'Can't stick around too long. They might be shocked if they find a dead man lounging around in his apartment.'

He goes outside and decides to take a walk in the park. While there, he explores the knowledge available to him about this universe.

'Let's see, ah, I remember looking at this one. Very quippy, this lot.'

Suddenly, he stops dead in his tracks. The person walking behind him bumps into him and cusses him out, but he ignores them.

He'd been looking into the future and had seen something he really hoped he wouldn't.

'Shit...out of all the universes I had to be born into, it had to be the one doomed from the start.'

What he'd just seen was Thanos' iconic snap, and the major loss of life that occurred after it. What was really annoying was that this was one of the few worlds that was so close to stopping Thanos, only to fail because someone couldn't control themselves for a few more seconds.

Gordon has a thought, but hesitates before voicing it out loud.

"Could I... change things?"

Gordon thinks about the repercussions, and comes to a realization.

"Just by being introduced back into this universe, it was changed irrevocably on a fundamental level. I've already messed things up just by existing, might as well go all out and change the fate of this universe."

And with that decision, the fate of this universe went up for grabs. Hinging entirely on the actions of one individual, for better or for worse.

* * *

**AN: So there's the possible first chapter of my new OC story based in the MCU. I took heavy inspiration from Prof. Paradox's origin from Ben 10. I'm still not sure if this will ever become more than a one-shot, it depends on the feedback it gets. As always, I greatly appreciate any reviews, especially constructive ones. **


	2. Chapter 2

The Anomaly Chapter 2

**AN: I've decided to continue this. Updates will be sporadic.**

* * *

An agent coughs into his hand, disturbing the eerie quiet that permeated the dark laboratory. Everyone in the room glances at him, then returns to work. Other than the occasional scrape of something being pushed to the side, it's dead silent. Standing above everyone else on a platform overlooking the work space is a man and a woman, each carrying themselves with an air of confidence and assuredness that none of the grunts on the floor below possessed.

The woman gives a cursory glance at a device she is carrying in her hand before frowning. She turns to the man next to her and murmurs.

"The signals getting weaker, whatever was here isn't anymore. Should we call off the search?"

The man stares down at the agents. They're poking and prodding various bits of machinery to no avail. Even with power being resupplied to all the various pieces of equipment, they refused to turn on. And, with no genius scientists on hand, fixing such delicate instruments wasn't an option. He turns towards the woman.

"Not yet. How go our efforts to locate this" he looks down at a tablet, "Dr. Kis?"

The woman shakes her head, "Agents found him in his apartment. According to their reports, the entire place was a mess, and Kis was raving mad."

"And the assistant?"

"When questioned about him, Kis reportedly broke down. According to him, Dr. Gordon Raines is dead. Our investigation into Raines' apartment seems to suggest this is true. If not dead, he's at the very least missing."

The man stares at the strange platform before him, deep in thought. After a few seconds of contemplation, he speaks.

"Put Kis into custody and try to get something more out of him. See if you can find out what happened to Raines. In the meantime, arrange for some of the scientists back at the carrier to take a look at this. Take it straight to Hill if they give you any trouble.

The woman nods. "Yes sir," She walks away.

The man stands silently for a few moments before pulling out his phone and dialing a number. He holds it up to his head.

"Sir, I've investigated the site, but the energy signature is fading faster than we can track it." He listens for a response.

"Of course sir, I'll get right on that," he lowers his voice, "Hail Hydra!"

The calls ends with a silent click.

* * *

Deep within the bowels of Kathmandu lies the mystical Kamar-Taj, the central hub of Earth's sorcerers. In a nondescript room, a woman can be seen sitting at a table before a set of china. She patiently waits for her tea to steep, taking the time to meditate.

An older man walks into the room, his beard reaching the middle of his chest. He gives a deep bow of respect.

"Ancient One, the disciples are ready for your lesson on the dangers of inter dimensional siphoning."

The so-called Ancient One takes her time in responding. She notices her tea is finished brewing and begins to pour it into her cup. Whilst she's pouring, she responds.

"Thank you for the reminder, Master Kshetri. I shall be there shortly."

"Very well Ancient One," He bows again and makes to leave the room.

The Ancient One is raising the cup to her lips when suddenly her eyes widen and she gives a sharp intake of breath. The cup falls out of her hand and shatters on the floor. She slides off the side of her chair in weakness and presses her hand against her chest, where she feels a sudden pain, though it fades quickly.

Kshetri, who had just left the room, rushes back in on hearing the cup shatter.

"Ancient One! Is something the matter? Should I get the healers?"

Her grip on his arm is shaky as he helps her up.

With a pale face, she turns towards him and whispers, "I-I'm fine. It was just an unexpected shock. Although, would you mind taking over my lesson Kshetri? I'm afraid something has come up."

Kshetri looks at her for a second, before nodding. After another reassurance that she's fine now, he leaves to lead the lesson.

The Ancient One takes a deep breath and straightens up. She waves her hand, the cup on the floor reforms and levitates to its place on the table while the spilled tea evaporates, the floor left steaming as it vaporizes.

She leaves the room in a hurry.

'That energy, it felt just like the Eye. I have to check if it's still in the vault.'

The Ancient One walks down the narrow halls of Kamar-Taj at a rapid pace; completely ignoring a few of the masters that greet her on the way to the vaults. Her eyes are unusually intense, confusing some of the older masters.

Before long she arrives at the vaults. The guards nod to her as she passes through, but she pays them no heed.

Sitting on a pedestal in the center of the vault is the Eye of Agamotto. She temporarily disabled the defenses around it and put it around her neck. The casing holding the infinity gem opened and a bright green light began to emanate from the Eye.

The Ancient One's entire body began to violently vibrate. Certain parts of her body even seemed to exist in multiple places at the same time. She wasn't concerned however, this happened every time she peered into the future.

She stayed that way for hours, meticulously pouring over every possible timeline. When she was finally finished, she took a step back, her hands immediately moving to the Eye. She glanced down at it, her brow furrowed.

'Strange. All the fourteen million, six hundred and five futures are still intact. But there's something else there. As if the universe is unsure of itself.'

The Ancient one tightens her grip on the Eye. She glances at the pedestal, and lifts her hands to put the Eye back when all of a sudden she stops.

There's a slight glow in her eyes as she takes her hands off the Eye, leaving it on her neck. Acting as if on autopilot, she raises her hand and starts to channel magic. On the pedestal, a replica of the Eye of Agamotto fades into existence, while the one on her chest becomes invisible.

The Ancient One leaves the vault, shaking her head as the glow in her eyes fades to nothing.

* * *

Gordon looks up at the sky; it's grey, gloomy visage providing the perfect mood for the somber scene before him.

He observes from a nearby hill as an empty coffin is lowered into the ground. Close enough to the proceedings that he can hear, but not so close that the other attendees would notice his presence.

'It's strange, ' Gordon thinks to himself, 'I imagined this would be absolutely devastating. Yet, I feel nothing.'

He looks down at the meager attendance. Gordon-1's mother, sister, and a few childhood friends Gordon-1 hadn't spoken to in years were the only ones that came.

'I suppose I shouldn't be surprised; Gordon-1 wasn't the most social of creatures.'

He watches as a woman he recognizes as Gordon-1's mother takes the stand. Tears are streaming down her face as she recounts stories from Gordon-1's childhood. How excited he was when he got his first telescope. How elated he was to miraculously get a date to homecoming. How angry and bitter he was when his father died.

'Despite his social shortcomings, Gordon-1 still wept and cried tears of joy. He was human, I suppose.'

He searches the depths of his memory for anything that would help establish an emotional bond with any of these people, but nothing comes to mind. Every event Gordon-1's mother lists, he can remember dozens of times, with hundreds of different outcomes.

As a result of observing so many different outcomes, the significance of each individual one slowly dwindled down to nothing.

Gordon frowns, 'In my search for the power to escape that hell, perhaps I lost something that's a fundamental part of being human.'

He turns away from Gordon-1's funeral and starts a brisk pace towards the city. 'And I'm not even sure that's something I care to have lost.'

* * *

Gordon leans back in his chair, deep in thought. All around him the walls of his temporary base are covered in names and pictures, all connected with red strands of plastic string. He would have preferred some sort of yarn, since that's what detectives in TV shows seemed to use, but it disintegrated in his hands.

The authenticity of the type of string he used was the last thing on Gordon's mind, however. More concerning was the fact that his powers seemed to be fading.

Gordon raises his hands and attempts to evoke the temporal energy he's been studying for millennia. His hands start to glow that familiar green, but the light soon starts sputtering, and dies.

He grunts, frustrated, 'It seems whoever's in charge of space-time around here really doesn't want me screwing up their carefully laid plans any more than I already have by simply existing.'

Gordon stands up and carefully paces around the small room, careful not to disturb his multi-dimensional (in more ways than one) storyboard.

'It's like… all the equations I painstakingly managed to discover, the equations that helped me escape that hell, are useless now. Or rather, they exist, but with different rules. Different variables. Variables I don't have thousands of years to figure out.' He snorts, 'Heh, if only the universe had a cheat sheet, I could… '

He stops his frustrated pacing and stares blankly at nothing, his eyes growing wide.

'Hmm, yes, that could work. The only issue is, would I even be able to get near it? I have a distinct feeling my presence in this universe is barely tolerated as is, with me doing nothing more than existing. Who's to say the powers that are won't smite me the second I change anything substantial?'

With this new dilemma in mind, Gordon stopped pacing and sat back down. He gave a cursory glance at his barely comprehensible (to anyone who wasn't him, at least) model of the key figures in this universe, and their various relationships with events that may or may not happen.

The model isn't anywhere close to representing every single possible decision; to do that he'd need a room the size of a country. No, with the limited space he had, he could only really write down the major details. Things that were a trend in multiple universes, and therefore more likely to apply to this one as well.

Gordon sat there, moving his eyes from one picture to the next, trying to decide what to do.

'I can't just force any changes. Like giving Stark info about his future renditions of armor years in advance. Or giving Bruce the key to achieving peace with his alter-ego. That'd get me smote for sure. And there's not much else I can do without being thrown in an insane asylum. Not until I get this equation issue fixed.'

He continued to look at his model. He knew there was a solution, there had to be! He couldn't let half the universe get obliterated without doing anything to try to stop it! That'd be just as bad as doing it himself! On the other hand, he wouldn't be able to change anything at all if he was obliterated from existence for being unnecessarily brazen.

'The trick is to be subtle. Change things in such a way that it won't be noticed (hopefully) until it's too late to reverse,' Gordon's eyes trail over his model, 'But what can I…'

Gordon stops his train of thought as he gets an idea.

He stands up and rushes out of his room, nearly tripping over his model on his way out. Just before he reaches the door, he grabs a cheap plastic poncho that's hanging on the wall.

'If this works… but first I need to get to a computer. Libraries are still a thing in 2008 right?'

He puts the poncho on, lowering the head over his face. Hey, it's better to be seen as weirdo wearing a poncho on a sunny day than a man that's supposed to be dead.

After a quick jog, he arrives at a local library, one he recalls Gordon-1 visiting in his childhood. The librarian sitting at the counter glances up at him as he walks by, but other than a quick raising of an eyebrow, she ignores him.

He sees a few empty computers in the corner, and starts speed walking over to them. He moves the wooden chair out of the way. No point in it rotting away and depositing him on the ground.

He goes onto the default search engine and pauses for a second.

'What would be a good test? Someone famous...'

Gordon thinks for a few moments before deciding on a name. He types in 'Johnny Blaze Daredevil' and watches with bated breath as the page loads. His face sinks in disappointment as the page fills with irrelevant results.

'No immediate results, but let's not lose hope yet. Maybe he hasn't become famous yet?'

Gordon deletes his previous entry and types in "Crash Simpson's Cycle Show". He smiles as the page immediately fills up with positive results.

'At the very least it seems that Crash is still up and about, touring the United States with his daughter Roxanne.'

Gordon looks for any mention of Johnny Blaze, one of the modern age Ghost Riders, but there's no mention.

'Then again, he didn't become famous until after Crash died,' Gordon ran his hand through his hair, 'Who else can I check for?'

After a moment he types in "Reed Richards" and sees a few articles dedicated to the so-called "Smartest Man on Earth". Looking through the articles, Gordon finds a considerable amount of information on different patents and even Richard's current place of residence.

'The Baxter Building, I should have assumed that some things would stay the same. Although, there's no mention of any test flights, much less of Mr. Fantastic and the rest of the Fantastic Four.'

Gordon took a step back from the computer, his mind swirling with thoughts on what to do with this discovery.

'It seems that a lot more heroes exist in this universe than I previously thought. Or at least those with the potential to become heroes. But how does that help me?'

Gordon steps away from the computer, absentmindedly noticing the discoloration left on the mouse after he lets go. He walks through the library, deep in thought.

'Could it be possible to...make them heroes?'

Gordon slows his pace as he explores that line of thought.

'But am I cruel enough to go down that path? After all, so many heroes' origins are ripe with misery and strife. Tragic events that shape them into the heroes they are. Can I really force someone to go through that?'

With a building sense of dread and determination, Gordon realizes that the answer is yes. When the alternative is the death of half the universe, inaction wasn't even an option.


End file.
